lluminated Script

If you take all the trouble
Of producing a candle—
The wax and wick, molding it—

Fully functional candle,
Ready to be lit—and then
You light it and watch the flame,

That flame is obviously
A part of the candle made
To produce just such a flame,

Steadily and evenly—
Transformation, light, consumption—
Candle being a candle,

But just as obviously,
The flame is something other,
Absent before and after.